It's A Process

This is my second experiment with batik stained glass effect.  It may not look all that different from the first one....but it is...it's just subtle.

I know I have a couple awkward moments in this one....but they don't become apparent until I add the black...that's why I'm practicing. Each time I learn something that will improve the technique and the outcome. And I just got 2 new yards of black hand dyed fabric in the mail from Colorways by Vicki Welsh....so I'm good to go for more practicing. And I think more of her fabulous hand dyed gradients are going to get worked in.

Here are the two are side by side.  The first one was just batiks....and not a very big variety. For the second one I used a wider variety of batiks and added some  Colorways gradient yellow orange on the horizon giving it a visually quieter place for your eye to land.  But I'm chuckling at what I just wrote wondering if this intense orange yellow is all that quiet.....but I still think it achieves the break I wanted.  I like the variation in sizes of the chartreuse horizon on the left better....and would do more of that staggered piecing next time. I also added more long curved branches this time....and next time would make sure some of them went off the right and left edges. Those long bent branches allow for more interesting batik shapes. 

Here's how it started. I changed some of the background lines...so some of those sharpie lines need to be disregarded.  Next time I'll use a vanishing quilting pen....I certainly don't want sharpie lines showing through.

A sliver of soap is a very helpful tool for marking cutting lines.  I start with a small piece of fabric and lay it along one of my black lines.  Sometimes I fold and crease the piece along another line and cut along the fold...or use the piece of soap so draw my cutting line.

You can see my soap lines on the blue piece.

I finished the top before I started planning the bottom....not really sure why.  My original drawing had a straight horizon line but I changed it up.  Like I already mentioned...next time I would push that even more like the first one.  It's so hard to tell how it's going to look with the black....and I'm usually pleasantly surprised how most problem areas just work themselves out. I only lightly tack down these fused pieces...and can easily change some of them out if I need to....and I did that several times on this one. Once I'm happy enough it gets a good hot pressing to really fuse it down.

I had another idea for this second piece and tried it out digitally. The one on the left is the current piece as is....and the one of the right I added a few extra black lines at the bottom.  When I do actual stained glass I almost always split a large piece up into smaller pieces even if it's the same color. The soldering seams add stability and interest.  I do like using a bit more variety of fabric in the landscape at the bottom....and more seams would allow me do do that.  In this type of piece I always want to cover the seam with black so if I want more fabric variety....I have to have more seams.  

So I'm going to mull this over.....and going to practice this on a bit of a bigger scale. Then...once I consult with my "clients" (that was fun to say) I may be ready to tackle the custom piece. Stay tuned.

It's a process....and I'm having a blast!